Summary

Chapter 20 briefly recounts the aftermath of 9/11, most notably FBI investigations into the attacks. Having returned to Yemen to investigate the Cole bombing further, Ali Soufan questioned Quso, one of the men arrested, about a photo of a meeting in Malaysia to plan the 9/11 attacks. Quso identified one of the men pictured as Khallad, who planned the Cole attack. This was the first clear link between al-Qaeda and 9/11. Soufan also interrogated Abu Jandal, a former bin Laden bodyguard who was Yemeni custody. Though resistant at first, Abu Jandal warmed to Soufan when he realized that the agent could speak Arabic and debate the finer points of Islam. Upon learning of the 9/11 attacks, Abu Jandal initially maintained that al-Qaeda could not possibly be responsible, given the enormous bloodshed, claiming they must have been carried out by Israel. Soufan, however, tricked him into identifying the hijackers...